Hi Inda. Hi Margherita.
It's good information. Additionally since we are human and will doubtless be angry and impatient from time to time, it's helpful to know how to deal not just with anger but with any of the hindrances.
In any event it helps to go beyond any problem to a solution. Seeing a problem is half of it.
The Mahayana Buddhists speak of Pride Anger Lust Jealousy and Stupidity.
I always felt that there is an overlap between all of those conditions. They compare to the seven deadly sins too. Evil is evil. And it's in the mind of the beholder too. Can we not over eat and enjoy it? Once or twice maybe. . .
I like the Theravadin Buddhist Five Hindrances for something a bit more specific:
They are Sense Craving, Flurry and Worry, Ill will or resentment (anger and impatience if you like), Sloth or torpor, and Skeptical Doubt.
Meditation Master Chao Khun (Dear friend in Thai) Dhiravamsa uses the metaphor of the mind as a reflecting pool - in the case of the first four hindrances. Sense craving is like a pool stained with a colored dye, so that the mind sees the color and not the reflection. In the case of Ill Will or Resentment the pool is heated to a boil. And when we worry it is like a wind causing ripples. If we feel we have no energy and cannot move, it is a though the reflecting pool has become covered with water weeds, plants, and algae.
Skeptical Doubt the last hindrance is distinguished from Skepticism which is seen as something positive leading us to investigate and seek the truth. But skeptical doubt is an innate bias. Maybe someone might think the whole subject of meditation is dry and boring and that all these metaphors are silly and irrelevant. It could make it hard to get much from meditation or to sit and watch the breathing or to chant or do yoga tai chi or other meditative practices.
Dhiravamsa suggests that the best way to eliminate the hindrances within one's own mind is simply to acknowledge them as they arise.
To simply state that anger isn't good for us is not enough. When it arises you have to look to the root cause of it and understand how it arises and how it came to be. At that point by meditating on loving kindness we can overcome it.
For worry he says the best way to eliminate it is to think about what good it does you. You can stop worry and consider that it may take a while to gain an insight and to form a plan. But worrying never helps.
But the hindrances that we have on our individual paths can't be eliminated simply seeing them as "evil" or something to be shunned or avoided. The point of meditation is to work on ourselves, not to tell others how to behave.
If someone is upset or out of balance the best thing to do often is nothing more than continuing to work on ourselves - and to try to be kind to our fellow beings including our animal friends who can sometimes find things less than satisfactory to.
Some of my favorite animal friends are humans lest we forget that we are. And we all crave - to become - to unbecome - and to have all sorts of fine things.
Acknowledge and reflect. Most importantly acknowledge, because I know I'm not a saint yet
. We're all in this together. And we're not always one big happy family.
Self work. Yep!
